Changes
by si-star-x
Summary: Brian is in heaps of trouble, and not by his own doing. Injured and alone, a strange twist of fate means somebody from his past returns. Can they help fix his problems? BrianOCC
1. Blast from the past

Erin slowly pushed open the garage door, wincing as a loud creak sounded. The radio was on full blast - "everything I do (I do it for you)" was playing. She smiled, that used to be their song.

She was about to step down and flick the music off, when another voice joined the one on the record's.

_Don't tell me, it's not worth trying for...  
_

Jesus, it was Brian. Since when could he sing?

_You can't tell me, it's not worth dying for you..._  
_You know it's true   
Everything I do  
I do it for you._

After the chorus had ended, then she flicked the switch. He was probably under his car, doing some work. Possibly trying to get high off the diesel fumes.

"Hey," Erin said loudly, stepping down the stairs and leaning against his car. 

It was a few moments before anything was said in response. He rolled out from underneath, a not-so-happy look on his face. "Erin? What the hell are you doing here?"

She laughed softly whilst flicking her hair back behind her shoulders, "Glad to see me, huh?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer." He replied "How did you get in?"

She held up a key and rattled it slightly. "You never took this back. Didn't change the locks though?"

"You don't really get chance after being in hospital for almost a month." His voice sounded more weak than accusing. Erin saw the flash of a grimace as he stood up.

When there was no response, Brian just strode over and wrapped her in a hug. It took her by complete suprise.

"I heard about what happened," She said whilst leaning into his chest. "Rome called a couple of days ago. Apparently he's been trying to get hold of me for a while..."

He nodded "Yeah, he has. Why the hell aren't you registered as "Erin Cortez"?"

Erin smiled "My surname's "Alexia". It's my father's name, I don't tend to go by it so I just go by my Mother's..."

"Oh, right..." Brian groaned inwardly as she leant against his still-healing stomach wound.

She noticed and pulled away, her hand brushing gently over the tender area. "Can I have a look?"

"Yeah, sure. Can we go inside?"

-

_"Fuck!" _

"Mr.O'connor... how nice of you to join us."

He slumped down the wall, an arm wrapped around the bleeding midsection. "What the hell do you want?"

"We want our money."

-

Erin followed him into the living room, smiling slightly as he practically collapsed into the sofa. "How long have you been home?" She asked, taking a seat in the small area  
of sofa cushion that was left.

He lifted his shirt and rubbed absentmindedly at the bandages which were wrapped around his stomach and ribs. "Couple of days,"

"Your ribs were broken too?" She said questioned, her eyes scanning the whole of his torso. There wasn't an area that was free of being covered in bandages.

Brain nodded "Yeah, four of them." he raised his left hand, allowing Erin to see the splints which were holding two broken fingers. "Bastards broke my fingers too,"

She winced in understanding. "Has anyone been round to see you?"

"Rome was here earlier, not that he was very sympathetic or anything,"

Erin smiled, "Do those bandages need changing?"

"Yeah, I guess they do." he shifted gingerly "I was just going to wait until my next hospital appointment but the wound's been bleeding slighty so..." he pointed to the dark splodges of red.


	2. Hope

I've just woken up at 2 AM after having eight hours sleep. I got some reviews for this thing so I figured it would be downright rude for me _not _to update. I'm kind of making it up as I go along so hang on in there with me! Thanks for the reviews. My apologies for the briefness of the last chapter - I didn't plan on continuing it. I write for my own personal benefit but now I guess I can try to write some more. I'm reading http/ - read it, it's amazing. I just read the comments though, eek. My writings's like 100x worse than that.

I haven't said my writings good, characters won't likely be "in character" and I've made a lot of things up. No reason to critisize me now, huh? No, I'm only kidding. Flame me if you may. Gah... I'll actually write something first.

**Chapter two - Finding hope in something hopeless**

Brian shifted slightly as his line of vision raised to meet hers. A shallow breath was taken before he began to talk. "Why did you come here? I understand that you wanted to make sure I wasn't dead," A pause was taken, almost as though he was talking to himself. "Rome _told _you I wasn't dead so that idea goes out of the window,"

"Well, I did want to make sure that you were holding up." Erin confirmed with a slight smile, "That and I haven't seen you for a while anyway. How have things been?"

A look was sent from him which could easily have been read as 'are you insane?' The question didn't really need an answer. She picked up on that and changed the subject - if only slighty.

"Are you going to tell me what happened to you? I drag my ass all the way over here to see you and you can't even give me some sort of an explanation?" A pout was faked and her arms folded close to her chest.

He couldn't help but laugh at both her choice of words and the actions. "Did you just say _'ass'_, Erin? That's something I'd never expect to come out of your mouth."

"Quit changing the subject, asshole. Tell me, please?"

**---**

_Ring, Ring. _

_  
The vibrations on the bedside cupboard mixed with the Miami Vice ringtone didn't make for a nice combination._

Brian held the pillow firmly over his head. Why would somebody be calling at 4 AM?

Ring, Ring, 

"Alright," he groaned in defeat whilst reaching over for his cell.

Click.

"Hello?"

-"Hello, is this Brian O'connor?"-

"Yeah, who's this?"

-"That's not important. You have some money from Dominic Toretto?"-

That name... it caused him to bolt upright in bed.

"Dom?"

-"Look, we need the money. Have it ready by noon. We'll come to you."-

Click.

The other end was hung up. Son of a bitch.

After a few minutes of lying in silence, Brian began to worry. What money did they want? He hadn't spoken to Toretto since, well... since. Ever lesser so did he have money from him. The guy on the phone had been brief. How much money? Maybe if it had been clearer, the money could have been gathered together. Why the hell would Dom give them his name?

Shit.

Who the hell were these people?

**---**  
_  
_"No." Brian said with a shrug. "You gonna help me with these bandages? I could do with a shower too."

Erin sighed, he _was_ going to tell her. He was going to tell her everything, to every last detail. Just not tonight.  
__


	3. Wishes

A/N: This can barely be classed as a chapter. I don't have much inspiration at the moment, but I figured I'd post as much as I've written. One day this story will become good.

-

Brian felt relieved as the warm water flowed freely over his body. Upon contact, it stung the wound on his stomach but he was just glad for the feeling of being clean. That was something he hadn't felt in quite a while. At the hospital, nurses used to give him sponge baths. It was usually the ugly nurses, the _old _nurses. Every nurse in the place except that hot blonde he'd seen hovering over the guys in rooms opposite. With a slight smile, he imagined Erin giving him a sponge bath. Maybe he should have milked his injuries and made her give him one? No, that would have been be rather awkward.

Suddenly, he was jarred out of thought by the sound of her voice.

"Are you all right!" She called from behind the closed door. Erin hadn't been too happy about him showering alone - he didn't exactly seem too steady on his feet, but the idea of them showering _together? _That didn't sound too positive either.

"I'm fine," Brian yelled back, wincing as the vibrations sent a wave of pain through his ribcage. "You can come in you know. I have boxers and... a shower curtain,"

That caused a loud burst of laughter from deep inside her chest to come free. "I'll be fine out here, Bri. Just call if you need any help."

He nodded, though obviously she couldn't see. _I wish you'd said that sooner..._

---

After the call, Brian lay awake. "What the hell just happened?" was pretty much the only phrase running through his head at that particular moment. There was nothing that could be done. No information to go by, no hint as to what they would do if he didn't have the money... the same thing would happen if he stayed awake or went to sleep, so the latter choice was taken.

---

Erin glanced around the room. The shower was en suite to Brian's bedroom so that's where she was sitting. The walls were painfully white with only one poster hanging. It wasn't very tasteful; some random porn star whom she had never heard of. With a sigh, her gaze shifted back to the door.  
__


	4. Remembering

_He was woken by the phone for the second time in one day. A quick glance at the clock was stolen before answering. It was 12:00pm exactly._

"Hey," Brian mumbled, still half-asleep.

-"You fancy opening your door?"-

No, not really. Of course he didn't say that outloud. "Sure, sorry. I was just asleep."

The line hung up before the sentence even finished.

---**  
**  
Erin tapped her fingers mindlessly on the table beside his bed. "Brian, what the heck are you doing?" she called loudly, not really wanting to walk into the bathroom.

---

_It was probably for the best not to take as long getting ready as usual. If it were just one of his friends, boxers would do just fine but these people didn't seem very friendly. Catching a peek out of his window, Brian noticed that there were three men all dressed in business atire._

"Damn, damn, damn..." he muttered quietly, pulling out a pair of jeans. There was no time for a shirt.

---

"Briiiian..." Erin said in a sing-song voice. "You haven't fallen down the plug-hole, have you?"

---

_Just as he reached the door, it was kicked in._

"You didn't have to make yourself look pretty just for us, Son." One of the guys said with a slight smirk. "We won't be staying long. Do you have that money?"

Brian shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Look, I'm really sorry but... I don't have any money. The first I heard about this was at 4 AM this morning."

The other guy spoke up as all three entered the house. "Kid, we don't have time for this. We need that money. Dominic Toretto said you have it. He said you had a deal and that you needed to pay him $100,000. That's what we need."

"I don't know anything about a 'deal'. If anything, he owes me."

"Don't make this hard for us. We know that you may not be aware of us needing the money today but surely you can just write a check or something?"

"No, I can't. I really don't have -" He was cut off by a fist connecting with his jaw.

---

Brian sighed as deeply as the broken ribs would allow. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, it because apparent how different he looked; how much he had changed.

"Sorry, Erin. I'm done now."

---

_"Don't even think for a moment that you're getting out of this easily." The biggest man said whilst making eye contact. "I can tell liars and you're most certainly lying to us."_


	5. Lines

I'm totally winging this and I think you can tell. I'm going to watch TFATF over again tonight to try and gain some inspiration. In the mean time I'll look at pictures... -drools over Paul Walker- Uh.. um.. yeah! I'm actually writing this BEFORE I've even wrote a word of the story, haha. Cool. I'm going to spend some time on this right now, hopefully. If I can get the ideas flowing, that is. It's currently: Monday 2nd January - 2:05 PM, I'll see how long this takes me to finish.

I'm listening to Bowling for Soup - Ohio, so if the words "Come back to Texas" get into this anyhow, that's why. sings Before you lose your accent, and forget all about the lonestar state... Yeah, moving on...

**Chapter five - The line between now and then**

Erin had to fight to keep her vision away from the deep bruising around his chest and the ugly slash across his stomach. Brian was fighting not to wince as each step sent waves of pain flowing through his whole body. It wasn't a good idea to go without the pain med's; not a good idea at all. After a month, you'd have thought that the pain would have dulled but no - it stayed exactly the same. The main reason was probably because Brian wasn't making an exceptional effort to feel better.

"You don't have to pretend that it doesn't hurt y'know." Erin said gently, breaking the silence which held them apart. He turned his head and smiled, she knew he was going to deny it. "I can see your injuries and I can see you wincing. It hurts." she added as more of a statement than a question.

"Of course it hurts," he muttered whilst taking a seat on the edge of the bed, grimacing even more at the new position. "I just want to be bandaged up and then to sleep."

That posed a question - where would _she _sleep? He had only one bed in the house. It was a double but no way would she sleep with him and there was no way in hell that he would even ask her if she wanted to.

"Are you stopping here tonight?" He asked, deciding to see if she would make up her own mind about sleeping arrangements.

A nervous smile washed over her features, "Brian, I think I'm going to be staying for a few nights."

He nodded, seemingly unbothered by what she had said. He backed that thought up with his choice of words. "Cool, it'll be nice having you around again. I won't charge you rent for the couch either."

---

_"Look, we didn't come here to hurt you," one of the men explained, "But there's an easy road and there's a hard road. There isn't much point on taking the latter but you seem to be heading in that direction."_

Brian looked up from his newly aquired position on the floor. "I know you don't believe me but I have no money. Take my TV if you want. Take my car, sell it - whatever."

"We need the money. Straight up with no complications. Do you want us to ransack your house?"

"I just said you can take stuff,"

"For money, Mr.O'Conner. For money."

"Sure but you'll only find a couple of dollars down the back of my sofa, I'm sure you don't want to wa-"

The guy cut him off once again with a hard kick to his ribs. "Enough with the attitude. You're starting off down the wrong path."

---

A/N: I know it was pathetic, but it was all I have. It's 1:22 AM and my mind's totally blank - sorry!  
__


	6. Erin

Erin wrapped her own arms around her body in a feeble attempt to get warmer. The couch was indeed fairly comfortable, but the freezing cold temperatures hadn't been mentioned. It was also fairly suprising how Brian seemed to be acting so nice towards her. They hadn't exactly left on a good note - maybe it was because he knew he wouldn't stand a chance fighting with her. Not physically; though the pair had been known to exchange fists in the past - more so on Erin's behalf.

When her arms did no good, she pulled the blanket around herself tighter. That didn't do much to help either. "Damn you," she muttered, suddenly wishing the option was there to just crawl into bed with Brian. No doubt that'd heat her up straight away.

That was one of the other reasons for her return. Not to crawl into bed, but possibly to rekindle the flame which still had potential to burn strong again - in her heart at least.

Slung across the back of an arm chair was a jacket. Her lips curled up when she remembered him wearing it in the past. Without a second thought, she leant over and grabbed it. It felt soft in her hands and when smelt, Brian's scent flooded her. As Erin began to pull the jacket around herself, another scent made itself known. Soon after the scent, came the starchy feeling on one side of the fabric.

"Never did learn how to use that washer, did you?" She quesioned, smiling slightly as the zipper was pulled upto her neck. The clothing was just as cold as the rest of the room, but the heat radiated more from the comfort being given. 

_---_

Perfect.

The only word Brian could think of to describe her. Sure, there was probably a more concise word somewhere in the dictionary, but it just wasn't a part of his vocabulary. Everything about her was perfect, so it did the job well enough. Perfect; the way she looked. Her beautiful curves, her gorgeous eyes... perfect; the way she shared love so carelessly. It got her into trouble a lot but it also gave him the chance to reach out and grab it. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

"I know you're standing there." Erin said quietly with her head still lowered towards the books scattered across her bed. Their bed.

He smiled and raised both arms "You caught me. Got some handcuffs?"

She laughed before closing one of the books loudly. "You'd like that, but no."

"Maybe later then?"

When she shot back a glare, he just walked over to the bed.

"Hey baby," he whispered as he snaked both arms around her waist and pulled her towards him. "What ya doing?"

She twisted out of his grip with ease; a frown of annoyance playing with her mouth. "I'm studying."

It wasn't a complete lie. Erin had been studying. He didn't need to know about the Bridal magazine which had been stuffed underneath the text books.

---

It was still cold. The warmth had only been temporary. With a sigh, Erin went to stuff her hands in the pockets.

Brian did have a fire. It was a nice fire too - located in the traditional position with a mantle above it. Unfortunately... she had no idea how to work the damn thing and if she was going to wake him up to ask for help? She might as well just ask him to warm her up himself.

The left pocket was sealed shut tightly and her hand couldn't prise it apart. It also felt starchy, just like most of the rest of the garment.

"What the hell did you do to this thing?" she complained outloud once again.

It wasn't doing any good so she just figured it'd be better to just take it off. The zip was quickly pulled down and her arms slid out with ease.

Before setting it back down, she lifted it upto her nose and took the scent in through her nose. It made her gag and automatically drop it to the floor.

Momentarily, Brian's own injury had been forgotten and she screamed outloud.

"Blood!"


	7. Together, beyond comprehension

_He felt ribs turn unnaturally inward as the guy's foot connected, the impact made worse by heavy boots. The pain momentarily took his breath away and he instinctively wrapped his arms around his chest to provide a degree of protection from further injury._

_"Look, Mr O'Connor, you're certainly not making this easy for us." Another one of the men stated, reaching down to haul the ex-cop up by his shoulders. "You don't have the money, sure, we get that, but you're going to have to get it. Do you understand?"_

_Brian gritted his teeth together and nodded, fighting back tears from the sheer agony radiating from his chest. "Yes."_

_He knew he wasn't going to be able to get the money. There was barely any money left in his bank account, and anything that was there only went towards paying bills. Sure, races were won every once in a while, but the money was usually blown on beer and clothes. Maybe a couple of races could have been won in order to earn the money in seven days, but with his ribs as mashed as they appeared to be, he wouldn't even be sitting in his car for a while. _

_"Hey, look, we're leniant guys," One said lightheartedly, though it did nothing to change Brian's impression of them. "We're going to give you 48 hours to get the money together, OK? If you don't have it by then..." he opened his jacket on one side and slid a gun up from his waistband. "You get the picture."_

_Brian's head was spinning from the pain, but he was coherent enough to know what the guys were saying. _

_"$100,000, Mr O'Connor." The guy said breathily. He turned to walk away, but before exiting, he whispered to another one of the guys - the biggest one, the one with the steel-capped boots. _

_Brian didn't recall anything else after being kicked in the ribs for a second time. The wave of pain was nearly enough to make him pass out, but just for good measures, the guy took hold of a couple of fingers on his left hand and forcefully yanked them both back, emitting two clean snaps. He fell over the edge of consciousness and was actually thankful for it._

---

Brian woke up abruptly, shifting position and being reminded that the events in his dreams were all very real. "Shit..." he mumbled to himself, glancing over at the clock and realising he'd only been asleep for an hour or so. His ribs were throbbing angrily, indicating that he'd probably leant on them at some point. It was ridiculous how little sleep he'd had recently without the torment of recollecting previous events which led to his injury. It was as though it wasn't bad enough just to experience the pain. As soon as he closed his eyes, he was forced to open them again as a scream of some sort reached his ears.

For a split second, Brian forgot that the guys who had been after him were locked up, and actually thought they were back. He felt a sudden rush of guilt and devestation in the fact that he'd carelessly left Erin downstairs on her own.

The thinking didn't last long, as he jumped out of bed seconds later, barely managing to push the searing pain aside long enough to run down the stairs.

"Erin!" He shouted as he reached the bottom. His eyes scanned the room for both intruders and some sort of weapon as to hit them wtih. After a minute, it hit him that the living room was completely empty aside from her on the couch. "Oh, thank god..." he sighed, leaning against the wall briefly before walking over to the middle of the room and wrapping his arms around her shaking body.

"Hey..." he soothed, gently running his fingers through her hair, "What happened?"

His question remained unanswered, and was only responded too only by her arms clutching at his body tightly and then the feeling of tears falling onto his bare torso. "I'm so sorry, Bri..." she sobbed, "I'm so, so sorry..."

He had no idea as to how to deal with crying girls, much less did he have any idea for why she was apologising, so he just gently rubbed her back. "It's OK, Erin..." he replied, repeating everytime she apologised.

As soon as she calmed down, he would take her back to his room. They needed each other tonight, for reasons beyond comprehension.

When


	8. Chapter 8

In the morning, Brian woke up to find they hadn't made it back to his room last night. They were lying on the couch, bodies pressed together in an intimately close manner. In fact, he even couldn't pinpoint a time during their time as a couple when they slept this close together. It was probably because the couch was never actually designed for sleeping on, so it only just about managed to hold both bodies.

Their legs were linked, their hands touching and from their current position, he had been spooning her all night. In any other situation he'd probably be feeling as though he'd died and gone to heaven, but unfortunately he couldn't get the sound of her scream and the sight of her sobbing out of his mind. He had been enlightened last night to the fact that she'd found his jacket covered in blood and decided to wear it due to being freezing cold. She'd jokingly cursed him for leaving her alone to freeze to death, but she was being deadly serious.

Along with the memories keeping him from enjoying this moment, one of her hands were pressing against his splinted, broken finger, causing it to sing in pain. The broken ribs didn't particularly seem to appreciate being leant on either, so he knew he'd have to wake her up soon.

"Erin, wake up." He said quietly and tentatively, carefully bumping against her side with his elbow.

"I'm awake, Bri." She replied back casually with no evidence in her voice that she'd been sleeping. "Good morning."

"'Morning."

"Sorry about last night... I didn't mean to freak out so much..."

The former racer just chuckled slightly. "Don't worry about it. You should have taken my bed or something anyway."

"Are you feeling okay?" Full of questions this morning, apparently. "Your ribs can't be enjoying this position."

"No, they're not." Brian agreed, attempting to shift position slightly but failing. "They're pretty much making me pay right now."

"Sorry." Apparently in the mood for apologising too.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get up, take a few of my pills and feel fine within the hour." He assured, shifting again (more successfully) so that he lay on his back.

Erin noticed his movement and took it as her cue to get up. Upon standing, she automatically caught sight of herself in the large mirror above the fireplace. She wasn't exactly looking her best, far from it infact.

"I look like hell..." She concluded, rubbing her eyes which were surrounded in blackness from her mascara. "My eyes are sore. How much did I cry last night?"

"You cried quite a bit." Brian told her with a slight smile. "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody."

"Who're you going to tell?" She laughed, turning back to face him. "Brian, seriously, I really do need to apologise. I don't think my mumbling was quite coherent last night, but I do remember saying 'I'm sorry' about a hundred times."

He nodded, recalling that too.

"We left on a really bad note, I just..." She paused, sitting back down on the couch next to her former boyfriend. "I really missed you while I was gone. Like you wouldn't believe..."

"I missed you too, Erin." Brian agreed, moving his good hand to gently brush back a strand of hair from her eyes. "I was just so confused about why you left and why you changed your number. I tried to get a hold of you for ages."

"I really wish I had a reason for it all." The woman sighed gently, leaning into Brian's touch. "I wanted to come back here and tell you everything. I wanted you to forgive me and then we could be happy again..." She didn't want to cry, not again.

"We all feeling like running away sometimes," He explained to her, "But there are other ways to deal with the urge than acting on it. These past few days I've really wanted to end my life. I had so much emotional pain constantly, and now with all of this physical pain on top of it all..." he sighed too, pulling his hand back and letting it settle over the wounded stomach area. "Life's not easy, Erin." He concluded with a shrug of his shoulders. "Running away wasn't the best thing for you to do."

"I know, Bri. I understand that now. I tried to build up a new life, I got a job, some new friends. It wasn't the same though. I'm not the innocent Erin I've been pretending to be."

"You're far from innocent." He replied with a chuckle, desire clouding his blue eyes slightly. "We belong together Erin, don't we?"

She nodded once, then leant down to capture his lips with hers. "Brian, we really do."

He pulled her head down close to his and tangled his hand in her wild, untamed morning-hair. Just as his tongue entered her mouth, the doorbell was pressed.

Fear automatically flooded his senses as he remembered Rome - the only person who ever came to his house - was visting family for the week.


	9. Chapter 9

"Brian?" Erin whispered tentatively, the arms once snaked around him in pleasure now clinging on in fear. "Do you want me to answer that?"

"No way." He replied automatically with a decisive shake of the head. "Do you really think I'd compromise your safety? You're insane."

"Look, I know you might feel as though you'd be putting me in the line of fire and everything, but honestly, I'm more likely to be able to defend myself than you are."

"They had guns, Erin." Brian stated seriously, his gaze locking with hers. "You wouldn't be able to defend yourself from that."

"Neither would you! We could hide?"

"I guess so, where could we hide though?"

The woman shrugged, wincing as the door was knocked again. "Maybe it's just your neighbour wanting a cup of sugar or something?"

"My neighbour is an ex-convict. I doubt very much that they bake." Brian chuckled, breaking the tension slightly. "I'm going to have to answer that. You'll have to hide. Don't come out unless I say so."

"Brian..." Erin gasped, pulling him even closer. "What if something bad happens?"

"I'll be careful, I promise. Just hide. The basement's a good idea." He pulled away from their embrace, but not before kissing her potentially one last time. "I've never stopped loving you, Erin..."

She was about to reply when the door was knocked again, seemingly more forcefully. Brian practically pushed her away from him and ushered for her to leave. "Go!" He whispered harshly, but the look in his eyes told her that he was scared, worried, upset; everything but angry with her.

His heart was beating incredibly fast, so fast that it was pounding against his chest and actually making his injured ribs ache. "Please god, please god." He murmured over and over, though he was far from religious. It wasn't just his safety on the line here; it was Erin's as well. If something happened to her...? He wouldn't be able to live with himself.

Erin had ran through the kitchen and down into the basement without even turning back. She locked the door behind her and slid down the wall, tears running down her cheeks. It couldn't be over. They needed more time to be together. They wanted to get married, have children. A whole life ahead of them could potentially be gone within a matter of seconds.

"Brian..." she sobbed, drawing her knees up to her chest. "Please be okay."

He should have known. He really thought it was over after he'd been hospitalized, but obviously it wasn't going to be. He hadn't given them any money at all, so how could it have been over? Stabbing him in the stomach and giving him a few broken bones was hardly beneficial to them. It was only a matter of time. The door was inches away now and there was no going back. He had to open it before it got kicked down again. With a deep breath and accompanying sparks of pain, he unlocked the door and pulled it open.

"Mr O'Connor?"

Brian's eyes filled with tears at the sight before him. It wasn't people intending to kill him, far from it, in fact. "

"Did we come at a bad time?"

"No, no. This is fine, I was just..." he chuckled and shook his head, "Never mind. How can I help you?"

It was two uniformed police officers.

"Well, we have some information that may be of interest to you. Can we come in?"


	10. The reason

Brian led the two sources of authority into the living room and gestured for them to take a seat on the couch. His heart was beating far quicker than it should be and his one immediate thought was not to find out what so called 'interesting' information they had, but it was Erin's well-being instead. The longer he left her; the longer she'd worry. The thought of her hurting just to worry about him was unbearable.

"I need to go down to the basement," He said honestly, "I'll be back in a minute."

Without even waiting for a response, he left the room and made his way to where Erin was still in hiding. As he walked through the kitchen, her sobs were audible.

"Erin!" He exclaimed, automatically reaching for the door handle and turning it sharply. It didn't open, obviously, as she'd had plenty of sense to lock it behind her. "Erin?" He called again, placing both hands on the door. "It's Brian. We're safe."

Her sobs ceased and the door made a loud _click_ as the lock released. It swung open and before he could say anything else, a body launched at him and caught him in a vice-like embrace.

"Who…?" Was all she said, her voice muffled from speaking into his chest.

Brian smoothed her hair with one of his hands and let the other fall at her waist. Her grip wasn't very easy on his injured torso, but he'd just grit his teeth for a few moments. "It was just the police. They're in the living room but I wanted to get you."

She nodded slowly, pulling away and looking up into his eyes. "What do they want, Bri?"

He shrugged, reaching forward to shut the door before taking a step back where he originally came from. "I have no idea. They say they have some information."

"About your attack?" Erin asked, remaining stationary. "Are you sure they're definitely the police?"

"I don't have any reason to believe otherwise." He said, shrugging once again. "We shouldn't keep them waiting."

Erin didn't wait for Brian to start walking back through the house, she just took the lead and grabbed his hand to pull him after her. She held her head high and brushed her eyes with her hand to ensure all tears were gone, even though it was clearly obvious she had been crying. When she stepped into the living room, she didn't have any reason to believe they weren't genuine police either.

"Sorry about that," Brian said with a confident smile, easing himself down onto a seat opposite them. "I just had to… well, it doesn't really matter."

One of the officers nodded, pulling out a pad of paper and flipping the pages over. "That's fine. We just came down here as this morning at around 4 A.M, Mr Dominic Toretto was arrested and is currently been held at the station in connection with a number of offences. We were aware of his link to your case and decided that we should let you know so you can come to the station with us and hopefully get some answers."

Brian's mouth was open slightly, whilst Erin looked slightly confused; she still hadn't been told the specifics of what had happened and so had absolutely no idea of who this 'Dominic' guy was.

"Oh." Brian said finally, nodding and running a hand through his hair. He squinted his eyes to look at the officers and shook his head slightly. "Has he been questioned at all?"

"Not regarding your case, no." One of the officers replied. "Are you willing to come to the station with us?"

"Of course." Brian agreed. "Can Erin come too?" He asked, looking towards the woman who was still standing behind the chairs.

"Yes." The officer said, tucking the notepad away in a packet. "I just want to make you aware that

You may not be able to speak to Mr Toretto directly straight away, we need to question him first."

Brian nodded, "That's fine. I'm happy to help in anyway possible too."

Both of the officers stood up, almost in unison, and walked towards the door. "Follow us then, please."


	11. Chapter 11

"Are you scared?"

Erin's voice was barely above a whisper as she rode in the back of the Police vehicle whilst clutching Brian's hand.

She watched him shake his head softly before any vocal response was given, but even that small and seemingly meaningless movement made her fully aware that it wasn't the truth. After all, he _was _about to come into contact with the guy who may very well be the reason that he has taken so much physical suffering in the last few weeks. Who wouldn't be scared?

"We're going to be fine." Brian spoke less than a second later in a tone not dissimilar to her own whisper. "There will be at least two cops and a table between us and Toretto. If we're not safe at the station then, well… I don't think there is a safer place." His trademark smile reached his eyes and he gave Erin's hand a light squeeze. "Never be scared, Erin."

She heard his words, but they were so hard to take in. She would _always _be scared. Erin was the woman who had to close her eyes if Brian came to a tricky bend in a race, just in case something bad happened. Erin was the one who had to check all legal documentation before allowing herself to do something even slightly risky. All things considered; how Brian ever came to be her 'type' was still a complete mystery.

"When we get back, you can have a steaming hot bath and forget all of this. It'll be over."

"Okay." She agreed, letting her head rest on Brian's muscular shoulder. "I believe you." Of course, she didn't believe him. She knew the nightmares would plague his dreams for months to come and the scars would be a constant reminder. Even if this guy gave his sincere apologies and paid Bri's rent for a year, it wouldn't be over.

"Bri?" She whispered again, letting her free hand trace up his tanned arm and then rest in the crook of his elbow.

"Yeah?"

"You really need a haircut and a shave." She grinned and then proceeded to ruffle his unruly light brown curls in a playful manner.

"Ha ha." He spoke, exaggerating the fake laughter. "You crack me up, Erin."

The next time they looked out of the tinted glass window, the station was clearly in view and the officer was just pulling into a free space in the parking lot.

"Thank you for coming down here with us, Mr O'Connor." One of the officers nodded curtly as they all walked inside and headed straight into one of the interview rooms.

"Take a seat." The officer gestured to the bench behind the large metal table and took a seat at the opposite end. "We have been following your case with a degree of interest," he nodded, linking his hands together. "However, it is going to be very hard indeed to charge Mr Toretto of any crime unless there is definitive evidence against him; which,as we both know, there isn't."

"I know that, officer." Brian nodded, still holding Erin's hand underneath the table.

"I have also spoken to Mr Toretto earlier this morning, and he has in fact admitted to claiming that you owe him money."

"Wow. All right." Brian nodded for him to continue.

"What he neglected to mention is the fact that a number of men came after you wielding weapons and inflicting possibly life-threatening injuries on your person."

Brian chuckled, "That's convenient."

"Yes, well, we have him available to talk, if you would wish us to do so?"

Brian turned to Erin and shrugged. "It's worth seeing him, isn't it?"

"Your call, Bri." Erin shrugged her own shoulders. "It's your call."


End file.
